Color in Darkness
by witchlips
Summary: ADOPTABLE! PM ME FOR IT! Hagrid sends an urgent message requiring Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape to meet him at The Leaky Cauldron after giving Harry his school letter citing unforeseen circumstances in need of immediate attention. Unbeknownst to the Wizarding World, Harry has been mostly blinded, and is most certainly not a Potter. A BiologicalFather!Snape and Blind!Harry AU.
1. Process Yellow

For the first time in ten years, Severus was anxious to the point of near panic.

He sat in one of the rickety booths in The Leaky Cauldron, sandwiched between Albus (dressed today in particularly jarring robes of pale orange, embroidered with a multitude of little pastel blue stars) and the grimy wall.

Across from them sat a very nervous Rubeus Hagrid, looking, for all the world, as if he'd been crying since they had seen him last, the morning before.

"Thank ye f-fer comin', Professors," the hulking half-giant sniffled. The massive man took a moment to fish out a filthy red-checked handkerchief the size of a tablecloth from his many pocketed trench coat, "I got the boy, but, er… well," a heavy sniffle shuddered through the man and, subsequently, the table, "There's two thin's I think ye ough' ter know, about 'im."

Albus shifted beside Severus, moving his withered old hand from his steaming tea cup to rest on one of Hagrid's large forearms.

"It is quite alright, my boy, quite alright. Calm down and let us know what is going on," Albus' voice remained as serene and genial as ever, but Severus could tell in the way the old man held his offensively bright robes in a white knuckled grip under the booth table, that he was just as apprehensive as Severus found himself in the face of Hagrid's uncommon grief.

Hagrid sniffed loudly and mopped at the entirety of his face with his handkerchief in an attempt to calm himself again. Severus scowled and resisted the urge to tap his long stained fingers against the surface of the table in impatience.

"Righ'. First thin's first," Hagrid huffed out, sitting up straighter, "The boy's blind."

" _Blind…_?" Albus' voice shook almost imperceptibly, and Severus couldn't help but look over at the Headmaster. The older man held an ancient hand over his beard, pressing into his chest in tentative shock, "How… how blind?"

"Mostly, Professor Dumbledore, sir," Hagrid's eyes crinkled as his face took on a pained grimace underneath his thick black beard, "Though he says he can sorta see thin's or people that got magic about 'em. Ye'll hafta ask 'im how it works, though. Can't say I understand what all 'e's meanin' when 'e talks about it."

Albus let out a rather forceful breath and nodded absently, visibly pulling himself back together.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, processing the information before the old man forged forward with the conversation.

"We'll have to bring him to Poppy as soon as possible to see what we're working with in regards to his education at Hogwarts, then," Albus frowned, running a hand through his long beard, "He wasn't blind the last time I received an update on his status at the beginning of the month… Did he tell you what happened to cause his condition?"

Hagrid shook his shaggy head in the negative.

"Jus' said it were an accident, that's all."

"Hm… Curious. And the second thing, my boy?"

The half-giant leaned forward, shoving his handkerchief into one of his pockets and sending the fiercest look Severus had ever seen on the normally docile man's face in Severus' direction instead of looking at Albus for the first time since they'd floo'd down at his urgent request.

"That boy… 'e's _Lily's_ son alright," Hagrid's voice lowered threateningly, giving a fair impression of a swarm of killer bees, "Lily's boy through an' through… but that boy innit a Potter. Not a drop o' Potter blood in 'im, mark my words."

"What-" Severus shook himself and cleared his throat to banish the traitorous shocked whisper it started at, "What are you trying to imply, Hagrid?"

Entirely too suddenly the half-giant stood, pushing the table across the floor as he shoved his girth out from behind it in order to leave.

"I think ye both ough' ter come meet the boy yerself, jus' ter… well. It'll be easier than tryin' ter explain."

* * *

Harry sat on the bed in the room that Hagrid had bought for them to stay in after he spirited Harry away from the Dursley's the morning before. A smile flittered across his lips as he ran calloused fingers over the smooth wood of his new wand. He hadn't been able to part with the object since he'd obtained it an hour before they returned to the inn.

His hand, a swirling golden appendage in the sea of endless blackness he saw otherwise, seemed almost attached to the rod of wood. The wand glowed and ebbed with the same gold he saw as his own body, warm with magic as if it were a live creature rather than an instrument of his own power.

The feeling, he mused, was an awful lot like how he imagined the tides of the ocean might pull and push against one's body if pulled under.

A contented sigh left the boy, and he shoved the wand into his waistband. Harry stood from the bed, causing the floorboards underneath his feet to creak loudly. He smiled and shuffled his bare feet diagonally against the rough wooden surface until his hands met the nearest wall. Upon touching the crinkled old wall paper his smile spread to an elated grin.

It was absolutely wonderful that everything in this new world seemed so blessedly imperfect. Anything that wasn't shrouded in the colorful glow of magic made enough noise that it became incredibly easy for Harry to figure out where he was and what was going on around him. Life here could be considerably less complicated to navigate in the magical world than he was used to at his Aunt's disturbingly pristine home where the only magic to see was his own.

Harry took two side steps to his right, cautiously feeling with the side of his foot until it brushed the sharp edge of the desk leg Hagrid had sat him at the last night to explain things. He fumbled a bit as he shifted his hands from the wall to the desk, but managed to find his way into the chair in front of it with no real issues.

Moments later a hesitant, but resonant knock came from the direction Harry remembered the entrance to be.

""Arry, are ye decent?" Hagrid's low, gravely voice asked, "I 'ave some people fer ye ter meet."

"I'm ready, Hagrid," Harry smiled. The door creaked open, and the gigantic, blurry, saffron colored form Harry had come to recognize as Hagrid lumbered across the groaning floorboards and into the room.

"Should I stand?" a frown curled around Harry's mouth.

"Er, nah, tha's alrigh'. Don't worry 'bout that," Hagrid shifted around and faced the door over his shoulder, "You lot can come in."

The sound of footsteps proceeded two more color covered figures as they entered behind Hagrid. The brightest of the them arrested Harry's attention immediately. He was a smiling old man, seemingly fashioned out of pure rose gold. All of his edges were sharp and his form was immaculately detailed. Even the man's long beard dripped with the swelling color of overwhelmingly powerful magic. Harry was fairly sure that the man must be what Merlin looked like in later years.

Harry swallowed nervously, choosing to stand regardless of Hagrid's reassurance. His hand trembled a little as he held it out to the old man.

"You must be the Headmaster," Harry breathed, voice a little saturated with awe, "Hagrid said you were a great and powerful man, but I never imagined-... Oh, forgive me. I'm Harry. Pleased to meet you, sir."

One warm, rose gold hand enveloped Harry's smaller yellow gold, and the old man chuckled from low in his chest.

"Pleased to meet you again, my boy," Professor Dumbledore replied. His voice was soft, and filled with something that sounded like an ember bed felt. He had a very comforting, bell-like kind of voice.

Harry smiled and let his gaze shift from the Headmaster to the person behind him. The third man was a towering pillar of a person, encased in very solid silver and a smattering of indigo. He was no dimmer or crisply clear than the Headmaster, but more subdued and cool. This certainly was not a man to be dealt with lightly, either.

He took in the features of the tall, magic saturated man with growing curiosity. There was something about him that seemed irritatingly familiar, but Harry couldn't quite remember what or why.

"Good afternoon, sir," Harry smiled awkwardly, attempting to have his gaze meet the other man's with only a vague knowledge of where his eyes were in general, "Forgive me, but, do I know you, sir…?"

* * *

Severus stood rigidly in the threshold of the dingy little room Hagrid led them to. It felt as though all the air in his lungs had vacated itself at the same instant he set his eyes on the scrawny boy waiting within.

It was easy to tell that Harry's eyes had once been the same brilliant emerald green his mother's were. Now those eyes, _Lily's eyes_ , were covered in a milky white film like sclera had been pulled across the colorful iris and pupil. Severus felt his heart twist in his chest at the sight.

After that moment of shock, Severus took in the rest of the boy's appearance and solidly slipped back into the same state of bewilderment and awe. Those muddled verdant eyes were set in a much softer looking version of Severus' own face at eleven, and all Severus could manage to say in his complete and utter surprise was a breathy and mumbled, "Oh, _thank Merlin_ , you have your mother's nose".

Albus chuckled, periwinkle eyes twinkling in delight. Hagrid frowned and grumbled something (very likely uncomplimentary) under his breath in that voice that reminded Severus of a sleepy hive of bees.

The boy gently pressed his fingers ( _Merlin, those were Severus' hands!_ ) to his nose, with a little smile, "My mother's nose…?"

"And her eyes, I dare say," Albus nodded in agreement.

"You knew my mother…?" The boy let his hand fall from his face and cocked his head to the side in curiosity. His voice was positively filled with hopeful wonder.

"I…" Severus breathed deeply, "Albus, I have no idea what I'm doing here."

"I think, my dearest Severus, that you are here to collect your son," The twinkle in the old man's eyes had reached critical levels. The boy scowled thoughtfully, and Severus was almost disturbed to realize the level of similarity between the two of them in that expression.

"There must be a mistake, sir. My parents are dead."

"I believe that the mistake has been entirely in the opposite direction," Albus smiled, "Be assured, however, that this is just as much a surprise for us as it is for you, dear boy... Am I correct in that assumption, Severus?"

"You are correct…" Severus replied softly, "I had no idea how this could even..." Severus cleared his throat awkwardly, "I had no idea."

Albus nodded cheerfully and chuckled again, "Lovely, just lovely. It appears we must make arrangements, and change some plans, hm?"

Severus' eyes narrowed at his mentor, frustrated shock translating to a more familiar and easier to manage emotion for the dark wizard. Thinly veiled irritation.

"Indeed, Headmaster," He drawled, opting to look at the old man rather than the confused and frustrated blind eleven year old that was scrutinizing Severus with eyes that seemed much more focused than they should be, "Though maybe that could wait in lieu of getting the boy to Madam Pomfrey. That seems considerably more pressing, in my opinion..."

"Right you are, my boy," Albus frowned, twinkle dimming to a less dangerous point upon the observation of the boy in question, "Hagrid, if you could gather up Harry's things and meet us at Hogwarts, please. We'll take him on ahead to our exceptional Medi-Witch."

"O' course, Professor Dumbledore, sir."


	2. Persian Pink

There was quite a long period of Harry Potter's life that he dreamt his parents might have somehow miraculously survived the event that had taken them from him. He often found himself imagining both or even one of his parents coming to tell him that there had been some kind of mistake and that they were going to take him far away from his irritating peripheral family where there weren't many chores to do, and plenty of food to go around and people might actually call him "Harry" instead of " _freak_ " or " _boy_ ". ' _That'_ , he had thought, ' _would be simply marvelous.'_

However, when the accident happened Harry had decided that that dream was very unlikely to ever come true. He was really the most unlucky person, and it just wasn't likely that that much luck existed for him. It seemed a bit funny to him that now, after he had moved on from this particularly spectacular dream of his, that he was sitting on a very stiff bed, in a castle so full of magic he could actually see the walls, in front of a man that was insisting on a test to see if Harry was indeed his son.

' _Perhaps_ ,' He thought to himself as he ignored the arguing adults standing a few meters away from him, watching the ambient magic swirl through the infirmary walls, ' _If he truly is my father I won't have to go back to Privet Drive and can stay here where I can actually see the room I'm in…'_

Moments passed before the Headmaster led the soft yellow and pink nurse back to the stiff bed Harry had been sat on when they'd arrived. The tall dark colored man that thought he might be Harry's father remained at the door, whirling with a few stray strands of striking orange that Harry thought might be indicative of some kind of anxiousness. He honestly couldn't say that he blamed the man, if Harry's assessment of his new color was correct.

"Hello, Harry," The dulcet voice of the golden Headmaster greeted, "Madam Pomfrey would like to ask you some questions about your vision and to run some diagnostic tests on you before we confirm our earlier theory. Professor Snape and I need to run out and collect some things while you speak with her, but we should be back by the time you've finished. How's that?"

Harry nodded and gave a small nervous smile. The warm shining man nodded in return, stepped back, and then turned away as the nurse took his place.

"Hello, dear," Madam Pomfrey said with a voice filled with professional concern, "I'm going to start now, alright?"

Harry's nose crinkled up in amusement. He'd never been asked for his opinion on things so much in his life.

"That's just fine, mam," Harry smiled. The shimmering figure of the nurse smiled in return and produced her wand, immediately beginning to wave it about in a few well practiced movements and speaking some words in a different language that Harry couldn't quite make out. A curling sheet of something concentrated with the same citrus-y glow as Madam Pomfrey popped into existence beside her, proceeded by a feather-shaped object filled up with color in much the same way. At the same time, some of the woman's own glow dimmed and siphoned itself through her wand and out, laying softly across Harry. The boy couldn't stop a grin as he watched the woman work. Magic was so beautiful to watch.

"Now, while that's going," Madam Pomfrey smiled again and let her wand arm rest against her side while she spoke, "How much can you see, dear?"

"Well…" Harry's brow furrowed as he thought about how best to explain, "I can see almost everything here at Hogwarts. When we first arrived and I saw it from outside I could hardly believe that I could see a whole _building_ like that. I could see a lot in Diagon Alley as well, but the buildings were a bit… dimmer. I can see wizards and witches as well, but… not, what was the word again… _Muggles_ , that's it."

"Hm… So you can see things with magic in them?" The nurse frowned thoughtfully, "How does it appear to you, Mr. Potter?"

"In people it's… it's like a human shaped glass container filled with an almost… liquid kind of glow," Harry bit his bottom lip and thought a moment before continuing, but Madam Pomfrey waited patiently, "They're all kinds of different colors, that _mostly_ change with their feelings. I've also noticed that there are different intensities of light as well. Like Hagrid is very blurry and a tad dim," Harry cringed at the way that description sounded, "But the Headmaster and Professor are crisp, clear, and… well, _saturated_ , I suppose is the best way to describe it. You appear somewhere in between that, and I think, based on the people I saw in Diagon Alley, that you're at the average level for the majority of people."

Madam Pomfrey chuckled and Harry felt himself flush. It probably wasn't the most polite thing to say the nurse was average.

"I'm sure that compared to the Headmaster, I am indeed at a more average magical level," She joked. Harry felt himself relax at her bemused tone, "What about the things you can see that aren't people?"

"They're mostly a white color, and they're considerably less… swirly. Especially foundation type things. Walls and the like," Harry replied.

"And the things you can't see, how do they appear?" Madam Pomfrey asked, reaching over to pluck the sheet from beside her as the spell finished and the feathery thing disappeared.

"They don't, really. They're just… void," Harry shrugged, "Like a black hole, just refusing to let any light or color out. Unless I'm some place without any magic at all. Then it's kind of like I'm just existing _in_ the void, and the only thing I can really see is myself."

The nurse nodded thoughtfully and turned to her sheet for a moment. She hummed every once and awhile in deliberation, and Harry tried not to fidget impatiently in the awkward silence. After a few dragging minutes, the door to the infirmary opened as the Headmaster and Professor returned from whatever it was that they were doing. Both men came up to the bed this time, and Harry noticed the threads of bright orange the Professor was sporting had become thicker in his absence.

"What have you discovered, Poppy, dear?" The Headmaster asked with a smile. The nurse's face twisted in annoyance and spots of lime green faded in and out near her ears. Harry found himself grinning with the realization that the color was mirroring her emotion. That'd be a useful color to know later, he was sure. Madam Pomfrey passed the bright old man the sheet before replying.

"If the boy wasn't a wizard he'd be totally blind," She informed them, "But he _is_ a wizard, so his magic decided that if it couldn't heal him it'd give him a way to interpret his surroundings the best it could. From what Mr. Potter and the report say; he isn't truly seeing the things around him as much as seeing their magical presence. It would appear that he's gained a rather interesting kind of… Aural sight, if you will."

"Amazing," The Headmaster breathed. A brilliant sky blue swirl slid across Dumbledore's rose gold temples as he passed the sheet over to the Professor beside him, "Absolutely incredible. Magic is truly marvelous, hm?"

"Unfortunately, Albus, he still can't see to read his school books or write essays," The nurse sighed, "So you'll still be needing to figure out how he'll manage his school work in spite of that."

"No problem, Madam, no problem. We'll get him sorted easily," The Headmaster chuckled kindly, "I'm just happy that learning magic will be easier for him than I had originally imagined."

"Thank Merlin," the Professor mumbled under his breath as he examined the sheet himself. A frown crossed the stern man's face and a flash of crimson lit up near his heart, "Poppy, this is indicating malnourishment."

"Yes, well, I haven't asked him about that yet, Severus," The witch huffed, lighting up with that lime green at her ears again, "I was waiting for you two to return."

Harry frowned and shifted nervously on the stiff infirmary bed as the three adults turned to him.

"Mr. Potter-," Madam Pomfrey began. The Professor made an abortive sound in protest, then found himself clearing his throat awkwardly as the nurse sent a swift glare in his direction, "Hush, Severus. Nothing's confirmed yet, so I'll call him what he knows. _Now_. Mr. Potter, as previously stated, the diagnostic spell indicates that you are malnourished and have been for quite some time. Am I correct in assuming that this issue is caused by your relatives?"

Harry shrugged and looked down at his yellow gold knees, picking bashfully at the sheets under his hand, "I suppose so. I mean... It's not been so bad since the accident. It's a punishment, see? But after I... After I couldn't see anymore I think Aunt Petunia felt bad or something so they stopped doing it so much."

"I see..." Madam Pomfrey's voice was filled with something Harry couldn't quite decipher, but he couldn't look up to check the status of her coloring, "And your accident, Mr. Potter. Was that caused by your relatives as well?"

Harry shook his head fervently and jerked his head up, "No, no, no. It was truly an accident. None of them were even around when it happened."

"What _did_ happen?" The Professor cut in with his silky drawl. Harry swallowed nervously as he noted the man's crimson spot was spreading across his broad chest.

"They had gone out for dinner one night," Harry replied, keeping his eyes on that aggressive red glow pulsing further along the Professor's body, "And I was home alone, because Mrs. Figg- That's my babysitter, usually- well, she was out on holiday, you see. So, I was home alone and had chores to get through. One of those was that I was to take this, er, corrosive cleaner through the disposal of the sink. I made a mistake when I went to flip the light switch and turned on the disposal before it had water run through it and well..."

"They left you _alone_ and made you clean with _corrosive_ _chemicals_?" The Professor growled, voice filled with outrage.

Harry frowned and shifted awkwardly again.

"Well," Madam Pomfrey breathed. Harry looked to see her form flood with more of that soft yellow that seemed to make her up, "Well, that's alright then."

" _Alright_?!" Professor Snape snarled, "What do you mean ' _alright_ ', woman?! He's _blind_ because of their negligence!"

"I _mean_ , Severus," Madam Pomfrey turned, seemingly unperturbed at the towering and furious man, "That I can actually heal that a bit. Now, it'll never be completely fixed. Too much time has passed since it happened for that. But I may be able to get his eyesight to a more workable level for school."

Harry felt hope bubble up inside his chest. He loved being able to see magic, but if the nurse could heal him enough to be able to actually read his books for school, well that'd be truly amazing. Abruptly, his hope turned to nervousness, "Erm... will... will it hurt? Will it make me unable to see the magic anymore...?"

"No, no, dear," Madam Pomfrey replied, waving her hand dismissively, "I'll have to call in a friend of mine that's a specialist. We'll put you to sleep while we work so you won't feel a thing. When you wake up you'll have to wear some tinted spectacles to protect your eyes for a bit, but after that it'll be like nothing. Like I said, I don't think it'll fix your vision completely, so it's unlikely that your aural sight will disappear. It should just bring you to a point where those, what did you say... voids. Those voids are actually filled with something. I can't pretend to know how clear it'll be, but you should be able to at least do your own schoolwork."

Harry grinned and nodded thankfully to the nurse, chest bursting with hope again, "That sounds fantastic. Thank you, mam."

"Of course, Mr. Potter," The witch smiled back.

Professor Snape's crimson splotch dimmed a bit, but remained steadfastly spread across his chest and shoulders. The tall man's face turned into an undecided frown. Headmaster Dumbledore beamed in Harry's direction at Madam Pomfrey's assessment, and clasped the Professor's shoulder reassuringly under one of his ancient golden hands.

"That is wonderful news, Poppy," The old man chuckled warmly, "Absolutely wonderful. That will help so much with Mr. Potter's education. Now... Severus, my dear boy. Why don't we confirm that theory we had earlier. It seems we've waited long enough to find out whether young Harry really is a 'Mr. _Potter_ ' or not, hm? I am rather anxious to see myself, so I'm sure you both are ready to know for certain."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Thank you all for the reviews and favorites I've received on this so far! You're all so lovely. I'll be updating with the chapter detailing the paternity test/results and eye procedure within the week, then I'll get us off to the school year where the fun really begins! Let me know if you see any spelling/grammatical errors here if you see them and feel like doing so, please and thank you. I don't have a beta so I appreciate things like that. Unfortunately I don't catch all my mistakes myself. *cringe*_


	3. Crimson

Severus freed the cluster of vials he'd retrieved with Albus earlier from one of the pockets of his robe. He handed one of the empty ones to the mediwitch and passed the larger one filled with the translucent mauve Blood-Tie Indicator to the Headmaster to hold while Severus bothered with his own empty vial.

"Madam Pomfrey is going to need to take some blood from you," Severus informed the boy neutrally. He slid his wand from his sleeve, and nodded at Poppy, "It just needs to be filled a fourth of the way."

The witch nodded and Severus redirected his attention to muttering a minor cutting curse while she dealt with Harry. In no time at all Severus' vial was filled, and he allowed a moment to heal up the wound before handing Albus his sample. The old man poured his blood into the potion, and the reaction bubbled for a few moments, turning the liquid a medium grey as it should. Poppy handed over Harry's vial next, and Albus wasted no time pouring it into the potion as well.

Severus looked up and was a little startled to find the boy's milky green eyes regarding him with that same eerie focus as before. He suppressed a shiver, but couldn't stop himself from scowling at the irritation of being unsettled by a child.

' _Son or not, we'll have to have a discussion about blatant and unnerving eye contact.'_

Albus finished adding the liquids together and held the mixture up to the afternoon light streaming in from the infirmary windows. After an what felt like an age the grey faded slowly into a shimmering opalescent white, and Severus let out a breath he hadn't even been aware he was holding.

"That's a positive, my dear boy?" Albus smiled, arching his bushy eyebrows at Severus, eyes twinkling like mad.

"Yes," Severus murmured, tearing his gaze from the crystal and looking at the boy on the infirmary bed with undisguised scrutiny. Harry managed an anxious little smile before chewing at his bottom lip in a manner Severus had once attributed to the boy's mother. _Speaking of Lily…_ "I'm still not sure quite _how_ , though… I mean, he very obviously takes after me. It's hard to say he could be anyone else's even without the results of the potion, but until that, I thought that I was perhaps seeing things I wished to see..."

Albus frowned in response, corking and pocketing the potion with a thoughtful expression. The Headmaster turned to Harry, looking him over carefully for a moment.

"As you say, you could hardly deny him. Confirming at this point is merely a necessary formality. I am curious as to why you might doubt at all, my boy," The old man inclined his head back in Severus' direction pointedly.

' _Tactless, nosy, old coot.'_

"I assumed to be wrong, _Albus_ , because I cannot remember seeing Lily much after our… falling out. In fact, every time I had seen her after that, that I can remember, she had been in the presence of Potter, and I highly doubt anything happened during _those_ instances to result in a child," Severus' eyes narrowed irritably, "I must say that I think it would be rather ill advised to continue this conversation in the infirmary with," he glanced quickly at the boy again, " _little ears_ around."

"Hey! I'm not little!" Harry frowned. Both Albus and Severus ignored his indignant declaration completely.

"Of course, my boy. Poppy, would you mind if Harry stays with you a moment while his father and I have a discussion in my office?" Albus asked the mediwitch with a kindly smile. Poppy looked to Severus, who nodded sharply, and she consented with a comment to the boy about needing to discuss the possible eye procedure anyway. Harry sent Severus an anxious look for some reason, but dutifully let the nurse drag him into a conversation about his vision again as the two men swept from the room. _At least the boy knows when not to push his luck, I suppose. Better than I did at that age anyway._

The walk to the Headmaster's office was more of a sprint for Albus in order to stay ahead of Severus' quick long-legged strides. Both of them remained silent throughout the corridors with the only words spoken the entire way being the password to move the gargoyle hiding the twisting stairs up to the room. Severus found himself more and more irritated at the quiet, and by the time they arrived and the old man found his way into the seat behind his desk Severus had successfully managed to turn all of his confusion into righteous frustration.

"Sit, sit, my boy," Albus gestured at the mismatched squashy armchairs in front of the desk and Severus reluctantly sat. Shortly, the older man gave into his continual desire for sweets by plucking the bowl of sherbet lemons from the far edge of the desk and popped one of the sour sweets into his mouth. He sucked on the candy merrily before offering the bowl with a smile, "Would you like one?"

"No," Severus narrowed his eyes in irritation, ' _When have I_ ever _wanted one before? They'd be selling ice picks in hell the day I accept one of those things.'_

"I'd rather discuss the boy, Headmaster."

"Right, right, of course," Albus chuckled as he sat the bowl back down, "So, you don't remember his conception, then?"

"I was sure we had established that fact already," Severus attempted to keep from outright glaring at the man that had given him a way out of the mistakes of his youth more often than the rest of his colleagues, but currently, it seemed rather difficult to keep the expression off his face completely, "I do not think I would ever _naturally_ forget such an instance."

One of Dumbledore's bushy white eyebrows lifted incredulously.

"You think she Obliviated you?"

"I would hardly be able to blame her for it at the time. Though I can't even begin to imagine the circumstances that would've led her to having to do it in the first place," Severus growled irritably, "She must have, certainly, because the boy is undoubtedly mine, as we saw, and I cannot recall how that could possibly be so."

Albus leaned back and steepled his long knobby fingers in front of his face thoughtfully, "She _was_ particularly adept at charms. We could attempt to recover the memory."

Severus couldn't stop the disgusted grimace from gracing his face if he tried, "I'd rather not recover _that_ particular memory with you… I hardly think it'd be appropriate. It's likely rather hopeless anyway… She would have done it well. Not to mention that it was long enough ago that our chances would be fairly slim if she _hadn't_ done it well."

"That's true enough, my boy," Albus chuckled, "Well, in that case we ought to get on with what we can do here in the present, hm? Do you want to take Harry into your custody, or would you rather him go back to his aunt and uncle?"

" _Go back_?" Severus snarled, "Surely you _jest_ , old man. Their negligence is the reason he's _blind_! They're are _not_ fit guardians."

"Right you are," Albus nodded agreeably, pulling open one of his desk drawers slowly, "So you'll take him then?"

Suddenly, Severus felt very much like he was being herded against his will. He glared at the old man, seething fury breaking past his attempt to hold it back as Albus pulled a very official looking parchment from the drawer and slid it carefully across the desk to him, ' _It's a bloody custody agreement… Why would he have this ready if-'_

"You knew!? This whole time!?" Severus jerked up out of his seat and snatched the parchment off the desk. His eyes scanned the paper swiftly multiple times before the Headmaster replied.

"I wasn't sure."

Severus lowered the parchment and narrowed his eyes dangerously at the older man, " _You weren't sure_. But you had an idea, _didn't you_? Otherwise I wouldn't be holding this document right now."

Albus nodded wearily, shoulders slumping a bit, "I did. James had hinted that it might be the case, but Harry looked like he could be either one of your's as an infant, and James never would say outright," he shrugged helplessly, "I figured at the time that it would be for the best if I didn't pursue the possibility too heavily, especially after they had to go into hiding and such a thing being confirmed could've put you into more danger. When Lily died, I knew it'd be likely you would end up in Azkaban, and even as fast as I could get you released it wouldn't have been fast enough for baby Harry, so I sent him to the Dursley's where he'd be safe behind blood wards and with his aunt who already had a child of the same age and would know best how to care for him. When you were released and we began restructuring after Voldemort's-" Severus flinched, "-death, you were still in no place to take care of a small child, assuming he really might be yours, and I thought he would remain safe with his aunt out of the spotlight the Wizarding world would've undoubtedly shoved him in, even, or especially, in your care and under your name where there would be the possibility of public outcry due to your past..."

"And now?" Severus snarled dangerously, eyeing the man before him, "You purposefully sought out the truth and are helping me get him back out of the goodness of your heart? _The public_ isn't likely to appreciate the fact that their Savior is the son of an ex-Death Eater even now. Most of them don't believe there is such a thing as an _ex_ -Death Eater."

Part of Severus knew that Albus had been doing what he thought best to protect as many people as possible, including himself, but the thought of having a son hidden away from him by, not only Lily, but the man he thought of as a mentor too, was absolutely beyond infuriating. If he was honest, he was devastatingly heartbroken as well, but he damned well wasn't going to admit to that.

Albus shook his head and sighed, looking older than Severus had seen him in a long time. It was incredibly difficult to stay livid at the man when he looked so weary and ancient like that, ' _Meddlesome old man..._ '

"You were- _are_ \- right. The boy has been grossly neglected," The Headmaster turned tired blue eyes to the younger wizard, looking disturbingly forlorn, "I believe he should be safe enough here at Hogwarts, especially since you don't leave the grounds for holidays and he is actually starting school this year. The Ministry and the Board couldn't say anything about a student staying here over summer when his father _lives_ here. I'd feel better with you _both_ within the wards where I can feel you. More over, I know you well enough to know that you won't spoil the child and will keep him on the _right_ path."

Severus frowned and narrowed his eyes speculatively at Dumbledore, ' _Obviously there is a plot in this action… I just can't tell what it is yet.'_

"You realize that I will not be able to return to the circles of my… 'associates' after I sign this? If what we fear happens with the Dark Lord, I will have to find some other way to be useful to the Old Crowd."

Albus nodded, eyes regaining their twinkle, "Certainly. You are useful to the Old Crowd, and _myself_ individually, for more than just your information gathering, my boy."

"You hardly have anyone else that could do it…" Severus grumbled. That sensation of being herded swept through his mind again as the old man waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry over it, my boy. I daresay that your raising of young Harry will be just as instrumental, if Tom makes his way back to physical form, as your activities in the first war," Albus chuckled, rifling through another desk drawer to produce a quill and ink well, "And much less dangerous, one should hope."

Severus grabbed the quill, sparing a dubious look for the Headmaster at such a disturbingly phrased statement. He shook his head and dipped the quill into the inkwell, laying the parchment back onto the desk and smoothing it over with his other hand. Allowing himself a deep breath and a last quick glance at Dumbledore's eager twinkling eyes, Severus made his decision and scrawled his spidery signature across the bottom.

"Excellent, my boy! Excellent! I'll take care of Harry's aunt's signature and then I'll get this sent over to one of my more discrete contacts at the Ministry to get this pushed through quickly. I suppose you'll want to head back down to your boy and get that procedure set up with Poppy, hm?"

Severus nodded curtly, recognizing the dismissal. He swept from the room and down the twisting staircase as fast as possible, black robes billowing ominously behind him. Frustration twisted in his chest at the thought that Albus seemed rather _too_ triumphant at his consent to take Harry and recognize him officially.

 _'I don't know what your game is, old man, but I'll figure it out. No one is going to keep me from my son like that again, and you'll get no help from me in getting him to play along in your dangerous schemes, regardless of what you seem to believe...'_

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _Once again, thank you for all the reviews/favorites/follows!_

 _A quick response to Guest:Millie on her review. :) As you can see from this chapter particularly, Albus seems to think that he's got enough of a hold on Severus to continue moving Harry where he wants him. He's absolutely incorrect and is severely underestimating Severus' desire to, at the very least, keep Harry out of danger, but he won't realize that until closer to the end of the year when it will be entirely to late for him to do anything about it. I will mention that even though my Albus is kinda manipulative, he's not actually evil or anything, so he's not actively trying to hurt people. He's just entirely too focused on "the big picture" as it were. Until the discovery that Harry is a horcrux (which canon I don't think confirmed for Dumbledore until the fifth book) he will be grudgingly okay with this. Harry is definitely a Potter at present, and until they go to submit all the documentation most of the circumstances behind Harry being a Potter are gonna be hidden from our mains (That is Sev and Harry). He will, however, remain the Potter heir, so no worries on that end. The Dursley's didn't take him to a hospital like they were supposed to have, nope, and they'd been lucky that it'd happened in the summer (no teachers to report it and they could keep him inside) and that Mrs. Figg had been absent in my AU. Severus will most certainly be seeing to their prosecution. I can't see him letting them get away with gross negligence that, among other things, blinded his son._

 _I got everything I could without spoiling to much. :) I appreciate the questions! It helps the story to write itself when you mention a thing I've not thought to yet._

 _Thank you all once again for the reviews!_


	4. Indigo

When the Harry's newly discovered father left with the Headmaster, Harry felt incredibly nervous and more than a little confused. He couldn't really focus on what the mediwitch was saying at all, and found himself staring dazedly at the shock of sunset pink dipping across the stern woman's shoulders as she droned on about the procedure. Harry barely managed to nod at the appropriate intervals, and he thought that Madame Pomfrey probably knew he wasn't actually paying attention to her at all.

 _'It's lucky I didn't really know anything about my parents until yesterday, I suppose. This might've been even more bothersome if I had,_ ' Harry frowned absently. It did bother him a great deal that he'd apparently had a parent alive all along and had been stuck with the Dursley's anyway, and it was very concerning that the man didn't seem to have any memory of his, er… conception. He wasn't sure if he should be happy that he had a father now, or frustrated that the circumstances made it take so long to find him, _'Maybe a bit of both.'_

The more Harry thought on the entire situation, the more convoluted things seemed, and it was all a bit touchy considering the information that Hagrid had given him earlier. He was supposed to be famous in the Wizarding World, and this seemed like the sort of situation that people might talk about. Harry frowned. He hated when people talked about him, _'And, what am I even supposed to call the man?'_

"-so when your father returns I'll just confirm with him and we'll get a letter sent off to set a date for the procedure. How's that?" Madam Pomfrey smiled expectantly.

"Oh, uhm, yes mam. That's alright," Harry bit his lip and turned his attention back to the woman, "Will it take long to talk to the specialist?"

"No, not at all," Pomfrey waved a hand dismissively, "Maybe a day or two at most. We'll get you set to rights before classes."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," He smiled politely.

She smiled back and her body shimmered with that soft yellow color, flooding the pink away. He was sure she had said something else before she turned to go to her office, but Harry was already pulled back into his thoughts. It wasn't long after that the Professor came sweeping back through the doors of the infirmary. Harry frowned as he noticed crimson had bloomed across the man's torso again and more vibrant than before, _'Guess the discussion with the Headmaster didn't go so well...'_

"Are you finished with Madam Pomfrey?" his father asked as he approached.

"Sort of. I think she went to get something from her office, but she said she wanted to confirm with you before talking to the specialist," Harry murmured. He felt just as unsure of how to talk to the man now as he had when they'd met at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Indeed," Professor Snape cleared his throat and the angry crimson receded from his chest and shoulders to be replaced with that detailed silver and the swirling indigo from before. Gradually, threads of orange bloomed across his stomach and Harry felt a smile lift at the corner of his mouth, ' _Well, at least he's just as unsure as I am.'_

"There you are, Severus," Madam Pomfrey sighed as she bustled from her office, "I just need you to sign this. I'll take care of the rest and let you know when I have any times for the appointment."

There were some rustling noises as the Professor took what Harry guessed to be a sheet of parchment and signed it on what was likely a bedside table. It was incredibly difficult to tell for sure, since both objects were voided from his vision. Harry scowled in irritation. He stood quickly as he dared when the tall man turned to hand the sheet back to Madam Pomfrey.

"That is all?" Professor Snape questioned.

"That's everything. You two are free to leave. I'm sure you have some things to talk about," She smiled and her shimmering yellow seemed to pool in the lines of her face. Harry found himself smiling at the effect rather than her actual expression, "I'll see you both again fairly soon, I'm sure. Good afternoon."

The Professor inclined his head in acceptance and motioned for Harry to follow him from the infirmary. Harry focused on the man's silvery frame as they made their way down to the Entrance Hall in order to keep from being sidetracked by the interesting rectangles of shifting color on the otherwise stagnant white walls. In an attempt to keep up with him Harry ended up almost jogging, and felt grateful for their continual silence when they began to descend into the dungeons below and his breathing became a bit heavier than he'd prefer to advertise. It felt like they'd made a million twisting turns on the way down, _'It'd be easy to get lost under here...'_

Eventually, Professor Snape slowed then stopped next to a segment of wall that fluttered a pale blue in around the same height and width as a door. Harry cocked his head to the side curiously at it instead of looking at the man beside it.

"That's interesting…" He commented quietly.

"What's interesting?" the Professor frowned.

"Normally, here at least, doors are white like the walls and floor and so on… but this door is kind of blue," Harry smiled and turned his gaze up to the tall man, "I'm guessing that means the magic in the door is less stagnant, and has a set purpose…?"

Snape's eyebrows only rose minutely, but Harry noticed the quick shock of garish yellow through the man's temple and smiled a bit at the realization that the color indicated his surprise.

"Yes… The door is hidden behind an illusion," The Professor replied thoughtfully. He turned to the door and slid his wand out to tap on the door in places that seemed to have a little heavier concentration of blue. He mumbled under his breath as he worked, "Interesting, indeed…"

The pale blue shuttered and faded into white. Professor Snape replaced his wand and opened the door, holding it for Harry to shuffle inside. The room beyond held an odd assortment of voided objects. Harry could make out the shape of a couch and an armchair, as well as a round coffee table in front of the white flooded fireplace. Along the walls were tall rectangular voided shapes that Harry thought were likely bookshelves, and dotted along them were smaller rectangles made of violently swirling gem tones. They did not look friendly to touch.

The Professor followed behind, shutting the door, and gently pushing the center of Harry's back to guide him to the couch.

"Sit. We have much to discuss," The man ordered, sitting himself in the armchair. Harry followed suit, gripping the armrest and then sinking cautiously onto the couch. The threads of orange thickened across Professor Snape's stomach, branching up across his chest like cracks in an ice covered pond, "I have, with the Headmaster's ' _help_ ', taken care of what was needed to gain custody of you. You will not be returning to your Aunt's house."

Harry relaxed a fraction and let out a small relieved breath, "Thank God…"

Snape gave a curt nod, "It was apparent to me that she has not mellowed with age, and while her attitude was mostly harmless when we were children, it was obvious that she shifted her... fermented loathing of both myself and your mother onto you," The orange threads became covered in that creeping indigo that seemed to harden like frozen water around the man, "I would've preferred you were with me sooner, and would've done this sooner if I had known."

"How come you didn't know?" Harry blurted. His face warmed at his outburst, and he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"It seems more than one person wanted to keep me from finding out…" the Professor frowned, "I'm sure each of them all had their own reasons for it. While I'm not happy about the deception, I am… pleased, to have you here now."

Harry frowned at the lack of explanation, but nodded thoughtfully, "Will I... Will I have a real bedroom here?"

Snape's brow furrowed and a little bloom of red flickered in the cold blue enveloping his chest, "Did you not at your Aunt's?"

"Uhm, well..." Harry bit his lip, unsure of whether he should answer truthfully or not. He didn't know the man well enough to know how to diffuse that spark of fury. Harry sighed and shook his head, deciding to throw caution to the wind and remember the Professor's reaction the next time, "No. I slept in the cupboard under the stairs. My letter was addressed to it. The first one, anyway."

Professor Snape gripped at the armrests of his chair so hard the material covering it creaked in protest. The little flicker of of crimson burst across the man's body like a wildfire. His words came hissed from behind clenched teeth, "You _what_?"

"They moved me after the first letter," Harry swallowed nervously, "Thought they were being watched, and all. I supposed it doesn't matter much, because I'm not going back now, but..."

"... _Doesn't matter_ ," The Professor inhaled a deep shuddering breath, closing his eyes. He held the breath for a moment before releasing it slowly, and the furious explosion of red seemed to chill back under the ever present indigo. Harry remained quiet, watching the colors shift around the man's body, and found himself entranced with the action. It was almost like Professor Snape was stopping his emotions with the rich blue somehow, "It does matter, Harry. We will not be discussing your treatment at your relatives in depth tonight, however. I would like to get you settled in here, for now. We will discuss them after you've recovered from your eye procedure."

Harry sighed with relief and nodded, "Yessir... May I ask you a question?"

"You may."

"Er, what am I supposed to call you, sir?" Harry scratched at his jaw nervously. The Professor frowned in thought, and turned his head a little to the side, silvery strands of his long hair curtaining his indigo splotched face.

"When you begin classes you should still call me Professor, and sir," The tall man turned back to Harry, brow furrowed, "We have not known each other long, and I feel it would be a bit soon for you to be comfortable addressing me as a parent that has been around for some time. Am I correct?"

"Erm, yessir, a bit actually," Harry mumbled, fidgeting at the weirdness of the discussion.

"I thought so," Professor Snape smiled grimly, "In that case you may call me by my given name, that is 'Severus', until such a time as you become comfortable enough to refer to me with a parental title. I understand a reluctance to use one yet given circumstances, and I will not force you to use something neither of us have experienced yet. At your age I think it would only hinder us... and I would like the time to get comfortable with the thought as well."

Harry smiled and nodded in agreement, "That seems reasonable to me. Thank you, sir."

Severus inclined his head in acknowledgement, "Good. Now that that's figured out, let's get your things. You'll have to sleep here on the couch tonight, but we will spend tomorrow getting you a room... I am sure we will be discussing more in the days to come, and today has been wrought with more excitement than I was prepared for in the first place. I don't know about you, but I could use a quiet evening before we descend back into the chaos of our... family."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** There was a bit more time between this update and the last. My timeline also became a little more drawn out. I've decided to fix that by doing a bit of a time jump in the next chapter directly to the Hogwarts Express, with the lesser events of the summer in-between peppered in via short reflection or exposition with other characters. I'm more than ready to get to the school year! If you review tell me what House you think my Harry will be in upon being sorted! I have it between two right now, but I'm not sure how exactly I wanna send him yet. It could go either way as it stands with this chapter's publishing. :)_


	5. Pearl Grey

_**A/N:** It seems most of you are in consensus regarding my skipping forward, so following your largely agreed upon advice, I will keep to the original pacing. :) We'll just have a longer story than I had planned, and I hardly think that's a bad thing. The longer A/N will be at the bottom. Without further ado; The Next Day._

 _Thank you!_

* * *

When Harry woke the next morning, he was careful to keep his eyes closed and his breathing at the same slow rhythm it had been at before consciousness returned to him. The smell of breakfast was strong in the room he was in. Sounds of a ceramic mug being set on a wooden surface or a page being turned every few minutes broke the silence. Wherever he was, it sounded incredibly cozy.

"If you are awake, you may as well come eat breakfast," a velvety baritone voice suggested from somewhere around Harry's feet.

' _My father..._ ' Harry couldn't help but grin at the thought as he stretched out on the comfortable couch. He opened his eyes and found his grin growing wider as the sight of stagnant white magic greeted him, '... _And Hogwarts.'_

"It _wasn't_ a dream," He couldn't quite keep the wonder out of his sleep-slurred voice.

An amused snort drew Harry's attention to his father as he sat up. The wiry man was utterly awash in silver this morning. Not a single splotch of that color-eating indigo was present in his figure yet.

"Please don't tell me that you're a morning person," The man drawled, one eyebrow lifted speculatively, "That is one trait of your mother's I'd prefer that you _hadn't_ received."

Harry's grin shrank into a contented smile, and he pushed himself up from his seat to walk to the dining table. He fumbled a moment in his attempt to pull out the voided chair from a similarly voided table, but managed to slide into his seat with a minimum of issue, ' _Easier than at Privet Drive, anyway.'_

"I'm not usually," Harry confessed, "but it's been awhile since I've been able to see the room I'm waking up in, so today is kind of special."

"I can't blame you for that," If he hadn't been looking for it, Harry would've missed the pearl grey that seeped from Severus' chest. The softness of the man's voice seemed to imply this was a color of sadness, or maybe, regret? It was entirely too early in the day for Harry to decide for sure. He shook his head and refocused his attention on the promise of breakfast. Clearing his throat awkwardly and feeling around on the table for his silverware, Harry gave voice to his most immediate issue.

"I, uh… is the food on the plate already?"

A moment of awkward silence permeated the room.

"You… can't see the table?" Pearl grey seeped from the man with a little more vigor, dulling the silver. Severus' voice had been neutral enough, but Harry was beginning to wonder if the color wasn't related to pity. He couldn't help but scowl a little at the thought.

"Er, no sir. If it isn't filled with any magic I can't see it at all. It's like a big dark spot... so, I may need help if this is a 'serve yourself' meal, if you're okay with that. I don't want to make a mess of the table if I can help it," Harry could feel a little flush working its way over his ears at his quiet admission. He really hated having to ask for help.

"I didn't even think of that," Severus cringed a little. A thread of orange bled through the grey. Even softer he mumbled, "It's going to take a while to get used to this…"

Harry smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way, "It's alright. I don't think you could do worse than the Dursley's, sir."

That increasingly familiar bloom of crimson exploded in Severus' chest as a fierce scowl overtook the man's face. Harry felt a bit panicked at the sight and couldn't help biting his lip nervously. The man seemed one word about Harry's relatives away from fury at all times. His father closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and that absorbent indigo faded in from his temple, swirling down to consume the pearl grey, bright orange, and the angry crimson in a matter of seconds.

"How are you doing that?" Harry blurted, flush returning full-force almost immediately as the words left his mouth.

Severus frowned, "Doing what?"

Harry bit his lip again, and rolled whatever piece of silverware he had picked up around in his hand. The cold metal was weirdly grounding. Absently, he realized it was a spoon and hoped whatever he was about to eat wasn't too liquid.

"Well… you seem to feel _a lot_ of things, and really fast," Harry mumbled awkwardly, "You have all kinds of different and bright colors show up on you; besides the silver that I think is your, erm... natural state? When there's a lot of them though, or the emotion connected with that color is… not good, your voice goes all cold and dead, and this indigo appears and... almost, I guess, _eats_ all the other colors."

Severus' eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up in surprise, a burst of yellow appearing in the middle of his forehead.

"You can see me _Occluding_?" That deep voice sounded weirdly higher pitched than normal. Bewildered, even, Harry thought.

"Occluding?" Harry mumbled quietly and mostly to himself, "As in 'to close up' or 'obstruct'? _That's_ fitting…"

His father gave him a strange, calculating look for several seconds. Severus shook himself a little, and then began piling things that _had_ to be food onto the area Harry was fairly positive held his plate. The action was confirmed a moment later.

"I've served you, Harry… You have an appreciable vocabulary for an eleven year old," Severus smirked, sitting back in his chair and picking up his coffee cup, "Where did that develop from?"

"I don't like not understanding what people are talking about," Harry shrugged, feeling for the edge of his plate and then the food on top of it. He was pleased to find warm scrambled eggs, a few pieces of bacon, and two slices of toast. Mostly foods that didn't require silverware, "There was a teacher I had in Primary that thought if she used big words she could insult us without anyone telling a parent. I didn't really have anyone to _tell..._ but it was obvious by her tone that she wasn't saying anything nice and I wanted to know what she was saying. I tried to learn every one she used from the dictionaries in the library after school. I ended up learning even _more_ words because I thought it'd be fun to be able to speak like that. I kind of collected words to use later... like a game."

"'Speak like that'? As someone educated, you mean?" Severus' smirk almost deepened if that were possible. Harry snorted, and used a finger to help his scrambled eggs onto his spoon so he wouldn't accidentally push them off his plate and onto the table.

"No, sir, not _exactly_ ," Harry smirked back. He took a moment to swallow his bite of egg before answering more fully, "See, my cousin Dudley has, as long as I can remember, tried to make my life more awful. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would have gone spare if I ever did anything to retaliate in anyway... but he's a complete _moron,_ so I thought it'd be nice to be able to tell him how stupid he was without him knowing. It's less trouble if they don't even know what you're calling them. It helped that I already learned from that teacher that your tone is important. That way he didn't go asking Aunt Petunia. She, er... isn't _quite_ as dumb."

Severus barked a short but deep laugh that he tried to cover by feigning a cough. Harry looked up from his dark plate to see all the indigo had faded away to that bright silver again. Harry grinned as the man took a sip of his strong coffee.

"I did something of the sort as a teenager," Severus admitted, "I, however, didn't give much thought about the tone of what I was saying at the time, unfortunately... The talent of tone control will serve you well. It was unfortunate for me that I didn't care about it earlier in my Hogwarts career. In any case, you should cautious with whom you apply it here."

Harry felt a warm glow in his chest well up with the knowledge of having something in common with his father, even at this stage where the man was more a stranger than he'd prefer. He nodded in agreement with the advice even though he already knew as much, and happily returned his attention to making sure his breakfast made it's way to his mouth with minimal spillage. After a few minutes of mildly awkward food filled silence, Harry realized with a jolt that Severus had redirected their conversation. Half way through his toast Harry stopped and scrunched his nose up at the man sitting across the small round table.

"You diverted me... by having me talk about myself," Harry said, mildly amused at having a tactic he regularly employed against Aunt Petunia's tirades turned on him. Severus raised an eyebrow in response, "I'm not used to having people around that are smart enough to do that to me."

"The fact that you noticed is promising. Don't feel too badly about it. I've been Head of Slytherin House almost as long as you've been alive, and a member of the House even longer. As such, have had quite a bit of practice in the art of discussion. Cunning and ambition tend to go hand-in-hand with conversational ability," Severus replied neutrally.

"You're the Head of Slytherin?" Harry's eyebrows shot up, "I didn't know that. Hagrid just said that you were the Potions professor."

"Indeed," His father smirked. A mossy colored green rippled down through the man. Harry was mildly entertained to note that the tone of his voice appeared to denote the color as pride.

"So what exactly is it? Occluding, I mean," Harry asked, keeping them both from sweeping off in another direction again.

"As curious as-" Severus cut himself off with a sigh, setting down his coffee, "It is a magical technique used to close one's mind from intrusion. It is also quite useful in dealing with emotions one would rather suppress in volatile situations… As you have noted. I have found that, in my work as a teacher, it is almost entirely necessary to exercise the latter frequently, and therefore, it has become a bit of a habit of mine to employ it even when its usage might not be entirely... helpful. I will attempt to refrain from doing it as often when we are in private if it bothers you... But I admit that it has been quite some time since I've been around anyone that I trusted enough to do so..." Then, under his breath, quiet enough for Harry to only just barely hear "Not since before your mother died..."

"You don't like teaching?" Harry's brow furrowed, catching that bit of information. Better to get the man away from that topic for now, if the swirling blackness in his chest was any guide at all. Inwardly he sighed, ' _I'll try to ask_ _about mum later then...'_

"I don't like the majority of _children_ ," Severus replied dryly. Harry couldn't help the amused snort that left him.

"I can't blame you for that," He chirped, echoing his father's words from earlier.

"Indeed?" Severus smirked, looking as entertained as Harry supposed he would ever see.

"No, not really," Harry shrugged, "Kids are fickle, impulsive, and thoughtless often times. You don't seem like a person that likes that kind of thing so far."

"You appear fairly sure of that for someone that is currently a child himself," His father remarked, eyebrow raising skeptically. Harry was pretty sure he wasn't really supposed to hear the grumbled, "Not that I think you're _wrong_ , necessarily..."

"Dudley put a lot of effort into making sure that other kids didn't want play with me on top of what Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon did," Harry admitted, frowning a little at the memories, "I've had a lot of time to watch them and think about it... _Maybe_ I'm a little... bitter. I doubt it, but maybe."

Severus frowned back, a strange mix of crimson and grey fading in and swirling around in his chest at the mention of... Harry's relatives? He took a shuddery deep breath, and shifted in his seat with thinly veiled agitation. Harry watched with a captive sort of interest as the colors slowly faded back out of their own accord, leaving the gleaming silver of the man's magic without the tell-tale blue of Occlusion making an appearance. It seemed much more natural that way. Harry bit his lip to keep from smiling and nodding in approval. Somehow he didn't imagine Severus would totally approve of the expression.

"Perhaps Hogwarts will give you opportunities to meet peers that are not so easily dissuaded," Severus replied thoughtfully, "Have you finished eating?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well. In that case, you should get dressed. We will need to speak to the house elves about adding your room to my quarters today... I can't have you sleeping on the couch a second night," Then, under his breath, "Minerva would _skin_ me."

Severus paused for a moment in thought, and Harry waited. Quick enough, the man nodded to himself even as thick cord of orange wrapped around his torso, "Will you need any… assistance getting ready?"

Harry grimaced, but nodded slowly and stood, "I probably will a bit… I never am completely sure about my hair anymore. Mirrors reflect light, not magic, so they're useless to me... And I'm still not completely used to dressing. A few times I've found out I'd been wearing something inside out because I've forgotten to feel for the seams or tags, and I have no idea if any of it goes well together or not. I've not been out of Privet Drive until now, so it hasn't mattered so much, but... If you could just tell me if I look acceptable, that's what I had Hagrid do, and it seemed to work alright."

"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Severus asked tonelessly. Harry shifted around a bit in thought, but shook his head.

"Er, no sir," He replied, rubbing at his neck in distraction. Harry wasn't entirely sure why attention to his needs was such an disconcerting feeling, but he supposed parents were probably supposed to ask things like that. He hoped the man wasn't the sort to hover to much. Harry wasn't sure he'd ever be able to get used to an adult like that, father or no, "I like to do things myself as much as possible. I might be blind, but I'm not helpless, you know?"

Severus nodded curtly, lips twitching up a bit at the sides and that soft, rippling, mossy green shifting into existence around his torso, "Certainly. I'll leave you to it while I get the room installed, and when you've finished you may join me to help fill it."

* * *

After finding the least ragged clothing in Harry's possession and subjecting them to multiple _Reparos_ and a Shrinking Charm or two, it didn't take more than a few hours for the house elves to get the room for the boy installed across from the Master bedroom and outfitted appropriately. Harry had asked that all the furniture be placed within a certain distance of each other to make it easier for him to navigate by himself. Severus wasn't sure what exactly the distance had been, but he was sure the boy would have little difficulty traversing the space after physically pushing everything around himself to the continuous (and _shrill_ ) objections of the elves. Then, after everything had been arranged, Severus had made himself cringe by asking the child what he thought about the colors. Harry, much to his relief, just laughed graciously at the question and shook his head, insisting that it didn't really matter to him. Exasperated with himself, Severus told the elves that the olive and coffee colored bedding was just fine. He still wasn't sure if that had been a mistake or not. Harry might not have to look at it, but Severus certainly would end up having to.

After they had gotten Harry fully settled in, Severus decided that they might as well make their way up to the Great Hall for lunch so that Harry could be introduced to the rest of the faculty correctly and get acquainted with the way up. In an incredible error, he had forgotten to notify Minerva ahead of time about the circumstances, and Albus, it seemed, found no reason to bring her the news of his own accord to spare Severus the drama of the revelation either. Needless to say, he was not pleased.

"Who is this, Severus?" Pomona gasped excitedly as they made their way to the Staff Table. As expected, the attention of the table in it's entirety shifted to Harry. The boy's eyes widened comically and he visibly paled, a feat Severus previously thought to be impossible as the poor child inherited his incredibly light skin. Harry's gaze became glued to his shoes, inky black hair curtaining his face in a gesture Severus had used often enough in his own life.

"This... is my son," Severus cleared his throat at the polite silence and attempted to steel himself for the outburst his next statement was to inevitably bring and the indignity of having to call his own son the name of an enemy, "Harry Potter."

The silence became suddenly much less polite for a good five minutes, and then:

" _EXCUSE_ ME?!" Minerva squawked, standing up so fast her chair fell over behind her. Severus wasn't entirely sure the woman wasn't going to launch herself over the table, and he couldn't stop the irritated sneer from appearing on his face in response.

" _Harry Potter_ , Minerva. Are your ears failing you in your old age?" A muffled snort came from behind him, and Severus valiantly kept himself from smirking with the knowledge that his son had apparently gained Severus' sense of humor despite their time apart during his formative years, ' _Perhaps it's the similarities in our family lives so far.'_

The thought made him scowl furiously.

"What kind of game are you trying to play here, Severus?!" Minerva demanded, practically breathing fire. Flitwick attempted to scoot his chair away from the furiously indignant witch, and ended up falling out of his seat instead. A snicker quickly followed Harry's snort, muffled by his hand being pressed forcefully across his mouth. Severus wasn't really sure whether he should reprimand the boy or not with out any history between the two of them, and decided to just ignore it for the time being.

He sniffed disdainfully, and dragged his eyes over to Albus, and raised an eyebrow at the old man in supplication, ' _I'm certainly not going over this today.'_

"He's telling the truth, Minerva, dear," Dumbledore twinkled happily, "Harry is indeed, Severus' son. We did a blood test just yesterday."

McGonagall redirected her fury on to the old man, and Severus took the reprieve to lead Harry up to the table to sit at the temporary chair the elves had placed beside his regular seat. While the rest of the staff watched Minerva snarl and Albus explain, Severus turned to the boy thinking he should probably attempt to help him with the meal since he now had the knowledge that the child required it.

"Would you prefer to have something you can eat with your hands?" He asked quietly so that it was masked by Minerva and Albus'... _conversation_ , "There is a large selection of sandwiches if so."

"Yes sir, that would be great," Harry smiled nervously back, "Thank you."

Severus nodded and looked over the platter close by, "I will speak to the elves later and have them serve your plate directly until your procedure so you don't have to rely on me to be around in order to eat at meals with everyone. If your eyesight isn't fixed enough to be able to do it your self afterwards we will continue that arrangement at whatever House table you're Sorted to."

Harry turned a cheeky grin up at Severus as he placed a pulled turkey sandwich and a fair amount of apple slices on the child's plate, "Afraid one of my fellow students will attempt to poison me?"

Severus snorted, "I sure _one_ of the little miscreants would dream up such idiocy as to poison the Potion Master's son right in front of him. However, I thought you would likely prefer it to having to ask your peers for help three times a day. Was I wrong? I do not wish to overstep."

"No, sir. That would be really helpful," Harry replied with a grateful smile, feeling around the table tentatively for his plate. Without thought, Severus took the boy's hand and placed it directly on the edge of the plate. Harry turned bright red with embarrassment, stiffening a bit at the touch, "Th-thank you."

In the awkwardness directly following that strange action, Severus became uncomfortably aware that the entire table's attention had shifted back to Harry and himself. The silence was unbearable, and as a man who thoroughly enjoyed silence normally, it seemed to Severus that the desecration of quiet to such a degree was tantamount to blasphemy.

"What?" He snarled, attempting to glare at each and every member of staff at once.

"Is he okay?" Pomona asked, face drawn into an expression of maternal worry.

" _He_ is sitting at the same table as you, Sprout. Etiquette would dictate that you ask him directly," Severus scowled, "He's blind, not deaf."

Apparently Albus had also neglected to inform anyone of the boy's condition, because immediately the table descended into a cacophony of badly pitched whispers. Rolanda, who was seated opposite of Harry had leaned fully over and was openly squinting at the boy's startled face. Severus narrowed his eyes at the woman, attempting to dissuade her gawking, but the glare was somehow totally ignored in light of her observations.

"So, I guess he won't be flying then?" She asked with a sniff.

Were Severus a lesser man he would have sputtered furiously. As it was, he managed to pull up his Occlumency shields and shove the agitated emotion away. He grit his teeth and growled at the woman, "That depends on how well his _eye procedure_ goes, Hooch."

Rolanda nodded and turned back to her meal with a frown, "...Suppose that makes sense."

The rest of the meal passed with minimal incident, and with a grudging promise to Dumbledore to return for dinner and a short discussion about Harry's procedure appointment with Poppy (now confirmed for the following Monday), Severus led Harry back down to their dungeon quarters. He desperately needed to work on his lesson plans, but found himself unwilling to leave Harry alone with almost nothing to do. Lacking an idea of what to have the child do in his absence, he decided to sit the boy down on the other side of the couch from him and spread his paperwork out in organized sections on the coffee table. Most of his work could be done with minimal thought anyway, and if he were honest with himself, he'd much rather use the opportunity to learn more about his unexpected son than brave the quiet with his own whirling thoughts as he ended up doing the night before. The boy certainly seemed to be open to the idea.

Severus, much to his eternal surprise, spent an inordinate amount of time telling the boy inconsequential stories about Harry's mother during their childhood after the rocky start of small talk neither one of them seemed any good at. Normally he would never willingly speak of Lily to anyone, but the combination of having nothing else knowingly in common, awkward stilted conversation, and those milky green eyes convinced him to relent a bit on his own personal rules. Even if the things he told the child about weren't very in depth or descriptive, he still felt himself becoming more and more morose as he spoke. In short order, he found himself distracted from his paperwork altogether, and contemplating the past in his usual maudlin fashion. It was really rather unnerving that he felt he could discuss Lily with the boy in any capacity, ' _Maybe it's because she's present in his face.'_

"Sir...? Severus?" Harry asked with a bit of concern.

Severus shook himself from his thoughts, "Yes, Harry?"

"Are you okay? You were, er... staring at me. I think," Harry shifted beside him, obviously unnerved.

"My apologies. I was... observing the features she passed to you," Severus admitted softly. The boy lit up and lifted his fingers reverently to his face.

"Really?" Harry breathed shakily, "Where? What parts?"

The corners of Severus' mouth twitched upwards and he gently took the boys hands in his a tad nervously, but no longer feeling quite as awkward with the action of guiding him even as the boy froze up at the touch. He couldn't help but feel a bit anxious at initiating physical contact with anyone after a life time of seclusion or violence initiated by others and he was sure the boy felt the same. Severus thought they were doing rather well controlling it, in any case.

Severus pressed the child's fingers to his nose and pulled the hands down slowly, "As I said when I first saw you, you have your mother's nose," He lifted Harry's hands up and pressed them lightly against the corners of his eyes, "And her eyes. Both in color and in shape," Severus dropped one of the boy's hands and guided the other down to his mouth, "Your bottom lip is also fuller than mine, and you likely got that from her. Your face is softer as well, but I can't be certain if that's her influence or just you being eleven... Time will tell."

Harry's face was bright with awe, a little smile on his lips as he continued to rub his fingers over them after Severus let go, "Was she pretty?"

"She was _beautiful_ ," Severus sighed. He swallowed around the lump forming in his throat, willing it away, "I would show you pictures of her if you could see them."

The boy nodded sadly, finally letting his hands drop to his lap, "I hope I can see them after the appointment next week..."

They sat quietly for some time after that before Severus shook off his thoughts and started gathering his papers. Absently, he realized that hardly any work had been done at all. He would have to make up for it tonight. It wasn't as if he was going to be able to sleep anyway between trying to recall how Harry even came to exist, and remembering Lily.

"Dinner will be served soon... We will need to head to the Great Hall," Severus informed Harry. He stood and banished his half finished forms back to the desk in his office and straightened his voluminous black robes, "Go get washed up and we'll brave the drooling masses together."

Harry grinned nervously as he stood and walked to the bathroom to clean up.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _A couple of people expressed concern over Draco. So far I plan to make him friend rather than foe, but I don't believe it'll be an easy road, necessarily. He came to Hogwarts deeply misinformed about the world due to his father. I do think that with Sev's guidance and the promise of friendship it won't be difficult to bring him into the circle in this AU though. I do not plan on making him any sort of family member._

 _I'm pleased to see that most of you are on the same page as me in the question of Harry's Sorting! I'll stay tight-lipped about that till it happens for sure, though. ;)_

 _Next chapter shall be a delve into Harry's status as a Potter and just how much James did or didn't know about all this mess. I'm excited to bring the past up to Sev, who currently is still a bit... confused as to how Harry is even his to begin with. *rubs hands evilly* Oh, mystery~._

 _(EDIT: I was told it seemed like Harry and Sev were moving a little fast, so I attempted to change the mood of the last scene a bit. :) I hope it helped some. There was also a concern about Harry sounding older than 11; I'll go through and edit his dialogue a bit. I am trying to shoot for him being smarter than a lot of other kids, but maybe I can get him sounding more on level with Hermione than what I've got...? Let me know what you think, because I'll be the first to admit I'm not the best at writing children. I have also gone through the other chapters and did some minor editing to make everything more cohesive!)_

 _Thank you for reading!_


End file.
